Joke's On You!
by Optronix Prime
Summary: When Chloris the Goddess of Flowers sends Percy, Annabeth, and Grover on a wild goose for the God of Comedy after he plays a nasty prank on her, things turn sour once the get to Florida. Of course Grover has to help her, she IS the Goddess of Flowers after all. (Set after Last Olympian, but before Lost Hero)


**A/N: Hey everyone. Gods it's been ages since I wrote anything worthy of being posted. I am extremely happy with this story. Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: As much as it breaks my heart, I don't own Percy Jackson**

My Saturday afternoon went downhill at the first sight of my best friend, Grover. I had been at the mall eating in the food court with my girlfriend, Annabeth, when Grover trotted up to us bleating something awful.

"Percy! Percy! You have to come quick! Please! It's an emergency!" He looked terrible. His hat was lopsided and exposing one of his horns, his fake feet and shoes were nowhere to be seen, and his face looked like he'd been clawing at it in terror.

"Grover, what happened?" Annabeth asked him calmly, getting up. My mind was racing. What had caused Grover to freak out like this?

"Did the Republic of the Flowers Society close its doors to the public?" I joked. Grover threw his hands into the air.

"No! It's even worse than that! It's my lady! Please come quick!" He picked up a fork and ate it like it was a pretzel rod. Grover looked like he was going to start crying.

"J-just come! PLEASE!" So we followed him a few blocks down to Center Park. Grover led us to a large oak tree, but we stopped. The oak tree was clearly dead and rotten, molding leaves scattered around. A path of yellow grass led up to the tree and ended with a girl who was in tears, sobbing her heart out into her hands.

She had long hair which was the color of wheat. She had all sorts of flowers weaved throughout her hair. Her skin was a pale, green-yellowish. She wore the classic Greek chiton only it was made of layers of fine see through material that was just thick enough to shield her bare skin from prying eyes. Not that my eyes were prying, I mean-she was pretty and all-I have a girlfriend! Anyway, she wore no shoes even though it was pretty cold, even for the end of September. I saw a green liquid dripping from between the girl's fingers. Then I realized something. She was covered in vines and flowers, but every single one was dead, even the ones in her hair. They looked ready to disintegrate any moment.

"My lady?" Grover asked tentatively, kneeling down next to her. She wailed.

"Who are you?" I thought she was a nymph, but she didn't have any other characteristics of a nymph except for crying chlorophyll. She looked up at me with sad green eyes, eyes that were like the beginning of spring. Perfectly lush and full of life, only now they contained sadness and grief. When she parted her lips and started speaking, I nearly tripped over myself in surprise. A dead rose bloomed from between her lips, falling into her lap. But before she could form a complete word, Annabeth interrupted her.

"You're Chloris, Goddess of Flowers." She nodded, wailing again. Annabeth knelt down and continued.

"What happened? Why is everything around you dead?" Her eyes flashed with anger, but the emotion was instantly smashed back into grief. Blackened and shriveled roses fell into her lap as she talked.

"It was all Comus! He-He came walking along, cr-crushing all my flowers! Then he thought it w-would be funny t-to lay a curse on m-me!" She was either so mad or so depressed that she could hardly form proper words.

"Now everything you touch dies," I guessed. She nodded picking up a rose from her lap, examining it, tears still streaking her cheeks.

"My lady, is there anything we can do to help you?" Grover asked almost desperately. She looked surprised at his question, and then looked at me and Annabeth.

"Two very powerful demigods are willing to help a very minor goddess for no personal gain?" She'd calmed down, which I was thankful for. Nothing was worse than an angry goddess.

I did understand her question. She's never had the help of a demigod before, let alone someone as powerful as me. Sure the satyrs, nymphs, and dryads help her, but that was because she was a nature goddess, not anyone particularly important.

"Yes. We'll help you," I said, and Annabeth nodded in agreement.

"Of course we will," she added, stretching out a hand and pulling Chloris to her feet. Chloris managed a smile as the roses on her lap fell to the ground.

"You are all of kind heart," she said softly, a single rose falling from her lips. "May you be blessed on your travels."

"Do you have any helpful information on Comus?" Annabeth asked.

"Talk to those who's facts are not always straight. I cannot guarantee their words will be helpful, but they know much." The dead rose pile at Chloris' feet grew with every word she spoke.

"And where do we find them?" I asked, looking into her meadow green eyes. She'd finally stopped crying.

"The place where gossip and rumor is the thickest." With those words, she turned and walked away, making the grass yellow and bushes look like tumbleweeds.

"'Where gossip and rumor is the thickest...'" Annabeth repeated, thinking hard. "That doesn't make any sense. Rumor and gossip? That's everywhere!"

"It can't be or she wouldn't have told us to go there," Grover countered. I didn't get Chloris' words. Rumor and gossip? My first thought was school, but that didn't seem right. Then I was thinking it could be one of the news stations, but that couldn't be right. It was the news. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.

"Annabeth, where's the National Enquirer located?" She looked confused.

"What does that-?" She broke off mid word, realization spreading over her face. "Percy, you're brilliant!"

"It was bound to happen sometime."

"Umm...where is it and why is it important?" Grover asked, gnawing on his shirt sleeve.

"It's in Boca Raton, Florida," Annabeth said promptly. "Rumor and gossip, it all makes sense! The goddesses of rumor and gossip are Ossa and Pheme. They must run the National Enquirer."

"Would explain a lot," I said, smiling.

"Okay, next question," Grover prodded. "How are we going to get there?"

I thought about that. How would we get there?

"We gotta get to the coast. I'll call up a few hippocampi. They'll take us."

We caught a cab on East 84th Street, turned left on 3rd Avenue, and finally right on East 106th Street. With the traffic, it took a good fifteen minutes to even get to the East River Playground. I've met the god of the East River and he doesn't deserve a playground. Neither does the Hudson now that I think about it, though that's another story.

I still feel bad about having the hippocampi swim through the East River. It'd only been about two months since the last time I'd been here; it had gotten just as gross as before. They hadn't been happy before and they weren't happy now. Rainbow and his friends glared at me as soon as they got here. I thought my head was going to explode at the intensity of the hippocampi's murderous stares. Annabeth asked what the problem was. I didn't answer her. Instead I told them to pick a pony and hop on. After some harsh whinnying, Grover got on his hippocampi. Annabeth mounted hers with no problem. Rainbow let me get on after making me swear I'd never ask them to appear here again.

"Please take us to Boca Raton, Florida, Rainbow," I whispered near his ear. He whinnied and the trio bolted from the river. I heard Grover yelp in surprise from behind as they took off. After about ten minutes, Grover, who was on my right, looked seasick and ready to puke. Annabeth on the other hand looked as if she did this every day. Her curly golden blonde hair streamed behind her like a ripped flag, swishing and swirling every which way. The orange camp tee looked like it had been glued to her chest because the wind was so strong. The spray from the waves splashed over all of us, though it only affected Annabeth and Grover. They had to figure how to hold on and wipe their eyes. I was glad it didn't bother me. I don't think my ADHD would have let me focus on so many things at once.

It was late afternoon when we arrived in Boca Raton. We thanked our ponies and I asked Rainbow to say I to Tyson for me. I think he said he would. Anyway, the hippocampi had left us at the OceanView: Beach Club which was right on the coast and I'll tell you, if I wasn't on a quest, I would've totally kicked back right there. Somehow, Grover and I had managed to convince Annabeth that we had to go in, just for a minute. What kind of harm could one little visit damage? Looking back, I can't help but think, 'Really? You don't remember the Lotus Hotel & Casino?'

We walked into the lobby. My ADHD got the better of me at this point and I really can't tell you what the place looked like besides it was huge! And clean, very clean.

The three of us walked up to the front desk. The girl behind the desk looked no more than twenty. She chewed her gum loudly, smacking her lips as she looked over the computer in front of her. She was vaguely familiar, but I couldn't tell where I'd seen her.

"Name?" she drawled, completely uninterested in us.

"We're not here to stay," Annabeth answered. "We were wondering if you had some towels. We had a bite of a…accident." I was glad Annabeth took over. I won't have been able to say more than, "Umm…"

She glanced at us without a care and called, "Collin, your mess," and went right back to looking like a zombie as she stared at the monitor, chomping her gum. I regarded Annabeth, who seemed to be unnerved by the girl. I had a feeling she was getting that sense of Deja Vu too. Her hand was gripping the hilt of her dagger, prepping herself for a fight. I thought I'd be smart of me to get Riptide in my hand.

The Collin guy came from the backroom. He looked about as old as the girl, maybe pushing a year or two more. His hair was long and wavy; it was a light brown along with his eye. He was on the skinny side, but he was still fairly built. He wore a "Need a coconut?" t-shirt with athletic shorts and sandals. His white smile greeted us as he walked around the counter to us.

"I'm Collin. How can I help you?" Something about this guy definitely gave me the creeps. A voice in my head was screaming 'Dude, you should know this guy!'

"Er, we were wondering if we could use a few towels," Annabeth replied. I could tell she was edgy too. Grover was in the process of eating a few pads of paper with the resort's logo on it.

He studied us. It was as if he felt the tension too. Was this guy a monster? Was the girl? Was this place full of monsters? If so, why hadn't Grover said anything? Something about this guy and the place was off.

"Wait a minute…Annabeth Chase? Is that you?" Collin asked.

I thought Annabeth was going to run the guy through with her dagger.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?!" she demanded, dagger almost leaving its sheath. Collin sensed she was on the verge of attacking and held his hands up in surrender.

"Whoa. It's okay. I'm Collin Hawkins, from Camp Half-Blood. I can prove it." He slowly went for his shirt collar and pulled out a camp necklace from under his shirt. A total of eight beads were laced on the leather. I recognized a lot of them, only because Annabeth had them on her necklace. The two I hadn't seen before was a dark purple bead with green runes and a white bead with what looked like two crossed daggers. The rest Annabeth had. The last bead Collin had strung on his necklace was a black bead with a green trident. The bead that marked my arrival at camp and the quest the three of us undertook.

Annabeth's eyes widen as she looked at him.

"No wonder I had that sense of Déjà vu," she said, letting go of her knife. "I have met you before." He smiled, relieved that we weren't going to skewer him. I left Riptide in my pocket since Annabeth was relaxing. Grover set down a half-eaten pad of paper and wiped his face clean.

"Ugh, satyrs," the girl groaned, taking the remaining pads away. "Freakin' eat the whole lobby if we let ya." Grover paled.

"You-you know I'm a satyr?" he asked wearily.

"Duh," the girl said lazily, clicking the mouse and throwing another piece of gum into her mouth.

"This is Kimberly, daughter of Aphrodite," Collin introduced. Kimberly looked up, snapping her gum and glaring.

"It's Kay," she grumbled. "Not freaking Kimberly."

"Sorry, sorry, Kay," Collin said, rolling his eyes. "And I'm a son of Hebe."

"Hebe?" I asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, Hebe. Spent my whole life in Hermes Cabin 'cause Hebe didn't have a cabin. Sucked a lot," Collin explained, turning away. "Come with me and I'll get you some towels.

As we walked, Annabeth asked the question I wanted an answer to. How did two half-bloods run into each other like this? And how are they still alive after leaving camp?

"This place is a safe heaven," Collin clarified as he gave us the scenic tour of the resort. "About twenty years ago, Lindsey, daughter of Hermes, Caitlyn, daughter of Hephaestus, and Marissa, daughter of Athena, became too old for camp life, but the mortal world was too dangerous for them. What were they to do? Always be on the run, waiting to die by some monster's bite? Of course not. They took a train to Florida. Hoping for an answer, they came here to Boca Raton. After a few months and a lot of praying, Athena responded to their prayers and gave them the idea of building their own Camp Half-Blood, their safe haven; so they did. After eighteen months, lots of stolen goods, and Hecate's help, they created this place, OceanView. It's a place where demigods who are too old for camp, but are too powerful for the mortal world, come to be protected. We're still apart of the mortal world, yet we're safe. It's perfect."

Come to be protected. Those words got me thinking, could this be a place for Annabeth and me when we're older? I'd never thought about the kids who'd left camp before or what had happened to them. Did they all come here?

"How many demigods are here?" I voiced my dying question. Collin smiled as he opened a hall closet and pulled out clean beach towels and gave Annabeth and Grover each one.

"Hmm…I'd say about two dozen ex-campers. I know the entire staff is exclusively demigods and mortals that can see through the mist, so that would be…" He started counting on his fingers, his tongue poking out from between his lips. "It's seven mortals and twenty-nine demigods, not counting the managers."

"Managers?" Grover bleated nervously, started to gnaw his towel.

"Yeah, two of the three founders"

"Wait, what happened to the third one?" I blurted without thinking.

"Lindsey went to Montana three years ago to visit her half-sister and her family, was captured by Laestrygonians on her way back. She didn't make it out." I counted five beats of silence before Annabeth broke it.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said quietly, wringing the water from her hair."

"It wasn't your fault, through Marissa and Caitlyn were pretty broken up about it. They grew up together. They all started camp when they were ten. They spent eight long years together and then twenty-five more outside camp."

"Did they have families?" Annabeth asked gently.

"Caitlyn and I do, Lindsey was the rolling stone. Thought a boyfriend was for arm candy and nothing more," a female's voice from behind us said easily. We turned and a woman in her early forties walked closer to us. She looked like she could be Annabeth's mother they looked so much alike. The main differences (besides age) were that this woman's hair was streaked with gray and her face hand a few wrinkles to it. She had a deeper tan and wore a classic Greek chiton and sandals with laurel weaved in her hair. Her grey eyes were a little less intense than Annabeth's too.

"You must be Marissa," I said evenly, not taking my eyes off her.

"That I am, son of the sea."

I got this feeling that even though she was a demigod just like Annabeth and me, that we should still treat her with the utmost respect. I had a feeling that she was just as clever as Athena when she needed to be.

"You are Perseus Jackson," Marissa stated, then looked at Annabeth. "And that means you're Annabeth Chase, a sister of my own house, and you, satyr, are Grover Underwood."

"How do you know that?" Grover asked, amazed. I was pretty shocked myself. I'd I didn't know better, I'd say monster all the way.

"Word gets around," was all Marissa said, and then she looked directly at me. "I am very surprised about your actions on Mt. Olympus, Jackson. Turning down immortality and asking for all to be recognized. Very generous of you."

"Thank you, Miss." She smiled.

"May I ask, where were you and the other demigods two months ago during the Second Titan War?" Annabeth interjected suddenly. Marissa's smile fell into a stony line.

"We put in our time at Camp. We should not have to bend to the will of those in need because they demand it. If I had felt it necessary, then I would have entered the battle myself; but you did not show the signs associated with failure. Therefore, we did not enter the fray." Annabeth seemed to take this as an acceptable answer. I had no freaking clue what Marissa had just explained. Grover seemed to get it because he stopped devouring his towel.

"So this is a place of refugee?" Grover asked politely. Marissa smiled again.

"That is one way of looking at it."

There was a long stretch of silence after Marissa's last words. She didn't seem to have anything more to say; neither did Collin. Annabeth looked like she was about to explode with unanswered questions. Grover was eyeing the curtains over the windows. I was wondering if this was where I would end up after I left camp. The place was awesome, but I couldn't see myself working at a tourist trap my entire life.

"So, since we're here, can I ask, do you know if Ossa and Pheme work at the National Enquirer?" Annabeth asked, giving Collin back her and Grover's towels. Collin was the one who answered.

"Yes, they both do."

"They created it, actually. They're the CEOs of the company. Probably the reason that paper isn't very factual," Marissa added. Hey, good news, I was right. They both ran the most out-of-whack newspaper to date. Go figure.

The sun outside a large window was sinking lower in the sky, touching the horizon. The sea looked like it was made of liquid gold instead of water.

"We need to get going," I stated, looking between Annabeth and Grover.

"Yes, we do," Grover seconded.

"On a quest?" Marissa asked.

"Yes!" Grover said at once. "We're helping my lady, Chloris."

"Ah, Goddess of Flowers," Marissa thought aloud. "I remember the quests demigods went on in my day. Gods was it awful. Quests were almost always death sentences back then."

"Why do you say that?" Annabeth queried, looking at Marissa.

"We didn't have the technology you do today. Sure we could fight and such, but Iris didn't do messages for half-bloods and the gods hardly claimed their children, let alone give them magical items and help them through quests. The only Olympian that regularly corresponded with demigods was Lady Artemis and she only communicated with her hunters. I only met Artemis once when she left the hunters at camp in '81."

"Did they beat you at capture the flag too?" I asked, smiling. Marissa smiled back.

"Yes, they did. That was also before the rule of no maiming, so we lost a boy from Aphrodite cabin."

"People died?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, Harriet Bloomer killed Christopher Smith."

Geez, life back then was brutal.

"Did you have Mr. D as camper director?" Annabeth asked her. Marissa looked confused.

"Mr. D?"

"Yes," Grover cut in, "Mr. D, or you'd know him better as Dionysus." Realization flooded her face.

"No, dear, he wasn't," Marissa said, and then went into deep thought. "Gosh, who was our cam director…?" she asked herself. None of us had an answer for her.

Annabeth took our leave. Collin and Marissa bid us farewell and told us we were welcome to come back whenever they wanted.

We walked roughly fifteen blocks to the headquarters of the National Enquirer. Night was on the verge of falling as we walked up the steps of the place. The building itself was dull and lifeless, but it was at least twice the size of OceanView.

"It looks closed," I point out. I was nearly eight, it probably was closed.

"We missed them!" Annabeth said, looking tired and frustrated. Grover looked around.

"It's all concrete…" His voice sounded sad.

Just then, two women came out of a side door, laughing and giggling together. I looked ahead to where they were walking to and good thing too. The girls were walking over to a large purple and pink chariot with four matching pegasus'. They walked quickly and were almost to the chariot when some sense came to me.

"Hey! Wait!" I hollered, running down the sidewalk towards them.

"Percy!" both Annabeth and Grover yelled after me as they followed. Both women stopped and turned to me. They burst into a fit of giggles.

"Holy Zeus above! It's the little demigod hero!" the taller of the two squealed.

"I know! I can see him!" the second one yelled. Both grabbed each other's hands, screaming and jumping together.

"IT'S PERCY JACKSON!" they wailed in unison. I took a step back. Whoever they were, they seemed pretty crazy. Annabeth's dagger was out.

"Who are you and what do you want with Percy?" she demanded.

"An interview!" the first girl said. The second nodded excitedly.

"And an autograph!"

"Plus pictures!"

"And personal stories!"

"Yes! Can't forget the personal stories and experiences!"

"Oh my gods! EXPERIENCES! Ossa I completely forget!"

"How could you possibly forget about his triumphs, Pheme?! HE IS A LEGEND!"

"The hottest legend ever!"

"Lord Poseidon, he is the HOTTEST mortal since Adonis!"

"I call dibs!"

The two second pause gave me enough time to blink and glance at Annabeth's furious expression.

"YOU CANNOT CALL DIBS, PHEME!" Ossa screamed, flames blooming in her eyes. This time, Grover and I took a few steps back.

"YOU CALLED DIBS ON THESEUS! I GET PERCY!" Pheme cried back, tackling Ossa into a bush. "HE IS MY HERO! FIND YOUR OWN!"

"Enough!" Annabeth shouted over them. "Neither of you get Percy! He. Is. Mine," Annabeth said in a tone that stated that her word was final, no room to discuss it either.

I couldn't help but smile. I'd never seen Annabeth so jealous, let alone jealous because of me. Guess she likes me after all.

Pheme got up from the bush holding a long bit of fabric and a chunk of Ossa's hair. Ossa got up too and shoved Pheme to the ground.

"Bitch," she growled, flames still dancing in her eyes. Pheme didn't retaliate. She just glared at Ossa and then fixed her hate filled stare onto Annabeth. Annabeth seemed to be immune for she was the one to break the silence and ask the questions.

"Okay, we're here looking for Comus. He pulled a prank on Chloris and she said you could help us. Now can you tell us where he is?" Annabeth pretty much demanded. Ossa huffed and crossed her arms.

"Who do you think we are, little half-blood? Your little chess pieces you order around?" Ossa said coldly, taking a step closer to Annabeth.

"We are the goddesses of rumor and gossip. We may be minor, but we are strong," they chanted in unison, their forms starting to glow.

"Umm, Annabeth?"

"Yeah?"

"Next time, try not to infuriate the ones we want help from." Grover nodded in agreement.

"Hey Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Just when I did, Ossa and Pheme screamed something in Ancient Greek and a gust of blue powder flew around us. I coughed, my eyes watering. I looked up to see Ossa and Pheme smirking in satisfaction. I looked myself over. Nothing looked different and I felt fine. Grover and Annabeth looked fine too, except that Annabeth now had what looked like sharpie all up her arms.

"Guys, you okay?" Grover nodded.

"I am, like, totally fine. Oh my gods! Did you, like, hear that Hera caught Zeus cheating again?" I choked, looking at Annabeth in horror, then turned to Ossa and Pheme.

"What did you do to her?"

"Cursed her demanding butt," Pheme replied instantly.

"Now all she can do I gossip and spread rumors," Ossa said smugly, arms crossed once again. "Little brat doesn't boss me around."

"Look, I'm sorry she was short with you, she's was just jealous, that's all." The moment I said it, I knew I'd regret it, and I did. Pheme's face lit up and pulled out a pad of notebook paper and started scribbling something down. Oh no. That was the something I knew I'd regret. Hopefully Annabeth won't remember I said that. Then again...she is Annabeth.

"It'll wear off at some point," Pheme said in a cheerful tone. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a story to write."

Okay, that could not be good.

"Just wait a second! We need your help finding Comus. Can you help us? Please?" Ossa and Pheme looked me over, and I could tell they were debating whether they should me or not. "I am Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, and the hottest moral since Adonis," I reminded them. Their eyes lit right up.

"So true! Okay, will help!" Ossa exclaimed, dancing around.

"Only if we get a few pictures!" Pheme added.

"Yes!" Ossa agreed.

I told them 'sure, why not?' If I had known then just how much those pictures would come back to bite me, I would've walked all the way to D.O.A. Studios to sign my death warrant.

***********/Page Break/***********

Ossa and Pheme sent us to Louisiana. New Orleans to to exact. The "party zone of the US" as quoted by Kevin, a party pony of the West Texas chapter. So we caught three buses and for most of the day we rode to Louisiana. Annabeth talked so much Grover and I finally cracked, pinned her down, and taped her mouth shut with duct tape. (Which of course every demigod carries in case of an emergency). I knew Annabeth would kill us later, but it stopped her constant chatter, so it would be worth it. And Clarisse would be happy I was dead too now that I think about it. And a long list of monsters and gods...

Anyway, around five in the afternoon we got off the bus and walked the remaining two blocks to the center of the city. Kevin the party pony was right. It was party central. It wasn't even dark yet and bars were blaring music and girls were outside holding another girl's hair as she puked onto the sidewalk. A lot of people passing gave Annabeth funny looks because of the tape.

"How are we supposed to find Comus in this chaos?!" Grover bleated in near panic.

"Calm down, Goat Boy. We're going to find him." I wasn't sure why I was reassuring Grover. Even I had the feeling we could check every bar in New Orleans and still not find him.

Annabeth's curse seemed to be wearing off. She ripped off the duct tape, glared at Grover and me, the dunked the tape into a nearby trash can. She tried to tell us off, but something about Aphrodite and Ares hooking up spilled out of her mouth. So maybe the curse wasn't quite done with her yet.

"Anyway," Annabeth grumbled, "what I was trying to say, we should check the Yellow Pages, see if-if Apollo is hanging around that mortal girl again. OMG! They are sooo cute together!" She facepalmed and tried again. Grover and I had to cover our mouths to keep from laughing.

"See if there's anyplace that says a god lives there," Annabeth said so fast it was as it she was afraid the curse might cut her off again. I couldn't hold back anymore. I cracked up, doubling over with laughter. Grover broke too. Our laughter drew the unnecessary eyes of passersby. Annabeth stamped her foot.

"This is serious-ly the number place to hang out! Did you hear that Zeus brings Hera here when he's not chasing mortal women?" I fell over I was laughing so hard. Grover wheezed against a lamp post, clutching his ribs. If I wasn't Annabeth's boyfriend, the first thing I'd do when I got back was Iris Message Connor and Travis Stoll and let them know about Annabeth's...issue.

As I pulled myself to my feet, another voice joined in on laughing. I turned around to see a man in his mid-twenties laughing heartily. He had long blue-blonde hair, like he couldn't decide on what color he liked better. A "Support the Party Ponies" t-shirt, black athletic shorts and strap-on sandals. I looked closer at his face. A few freckles and...his eyes. They reminded me of an old enemy, Dr. Thorn, a manticore that tried to kill me and my friends almost three years ago. One of his eyes was green and the other was blue. Suddenly, his entire appearance changed. The t-shirt was replaced by a white one and a leather jacket. Striped pajama pants took place of the shorts and a flashing head band was wrapped around his head.

"You must be Comus," I stated. The man grinned.

"That I am, demigod. I hear you've been looking for me." He grinned, pulling a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it with a snap of his fingers.

"Yeah, we have...you smoke?" I asked incredulously. Comus blew smoke from between his lips, flashing another grin.

"I decided years ago to embrace all humanity has to offer. Liquor, hot girls, lung cancer, the works. Since I'm immortal, I decided that I have every right to 'destroy' my body as you mortals put it. But being immortal I can't get sick, or die, or anything, so light one up!" Comus took another long drag from his cigarette, just about finishing it.

After he said that, I had to wonder why the other gods didn't think this way.

"So, what would two half-bloods and a satyr want with little ol' me?"

"Sir," Grover cut in, "we're here on the behalf of Lady Chloris. She's very sad, ever since you pulled that prank on her." Comus threw his cigarette to the ground, crushed it between his feet, and it another, beaming.

"That was a beautiful joke if I do say so myself," he preened, expelling more smoke from his body.

"We came here to ask you if-" Annabeth started to say; the curse caught up with her and out came the rest of her sentence. "If you saw Aphrodite and Ares hanging around here. OMG! They are such a cute couple." Comus' laughter was like a foghorn sounding when you were right next to it. He dropped his death stick and laughed until he cried. Annabeth covered her mouth in embarrassment, turning a vivid shade of red.

"Just for that, I'll help you!" Comus wiped his tears away, producing a large, multicolored rose from thin air and tossed it to Grover. Grover scrambled to catch it and cradled it to his chest. "Holy Zeus above! Whatever happened to you, demigod, best to you!" Comus burst into a shower of green smoke, his laughter still echoing around us. I could just hear Annabeth mutter,

"I'm going to kill those gossip goddesses," before she straightened up and headed back for the bus station. Grover and I followed at a good distance. Mostly so she couldn't hear us mocking her.

It took us two days to hitch back to New York. At that point, we were gross, tired, and ready to throttled Annabeth's chatter. It didn't come so often, but when it did, she could not shut up until either Grover or I shouted at her to "SHUT UP!"

A week. We'd been gone a week. In the middle of the school year. My mother worried a lot about me during the summer and the holidays when I went to camp, but the summer after my first year at camp, I promised her that I wouldn't just take off during school without telling her first. Mom doesn't ever yell, but she still has this way of making me feel horrible without even trying. I knew the moment I got home that things wouldn't end well, but I wasn't home yet. We still had to deliver the rainbow flower to Chloris. Grover did the honors, after all, he did idolize her.

"My lady," he said, hanging her the flower. Chloris' smile was warmer than the sun. She gently picked it up and an amber glow spread around her. The entire park was given a blast of the glow and everything perked up like spring had just arrived. Everything that had died around her burst into first bloom. Her transparent chiton was suddenly shimmering with color. Her skin brightened into a cheery green and her eyes sparkled like sun on a lake.

"Thank you, my heroes. Thank you," she said in a quiet, but happy tone. A string of roses came to life from her mouth, wrapping around her throat like a necklace. She waved her hand and three roses grew at our feet. "My gift to you." The rose at my feet was bright blue, and when I picked it, a bouquet of blue roses formed in my grasp. I knew exactly who would be getting them too.

** A/N: Kimberly, Collin, Marissa, Lindsey, and Caitlyn all belong to me.**

**Please review!**

**~Nix**


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